Earnings up. Dividend up. Stock... down?

That is the way one equity analyst described the plight of DHT Holdings in late January — and it sums up the challenges facing DHT in particular and the public crude-tanker sector more broadly.

New York-listed DHT is lagging behind its peers so far in 2015 despite having spent the past two years restructuring its balance sheet and expanding its fleet to offer significant exposure to a recovering spot trade.